The Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) has certified the first devices the integrate 802.11 wireless networking with mobile phone network communications for their successful interoperability with other WLAN products.

Cisco yesterday announced plans to acquire privately-held network security firm Perfigo for approximately $74m in cash. The acquisition, which is subject to various standard closing conditions, is expected to close by the end of January 2005.

Giant US telco AT&T revealed the cost of its restructuring - $7.1bn in the three months ended 30 September 2004. In the third quarter of last year the firm made income of $418m. The telco blamed an $11.4bn reduction in the value of its long-distance network for the loss which works out at $8.95 per share.

The perils of automated text services by which mobe operators send regular, user-defined set reminders are not something we'd particularly considered - until we heard the story of stereo_steve and his "Massive O2 problem". Read on:

Apple's kind-hearted advice to owners of its shiny new iMac has gone down a storm with Reg readers this week. Guidelines for moving the computer included a reminder to Apple owners to "make sure all cables and cords are disconnected". Useful, indeed.

If there is one certainty today in the wonderful world of Information Technology it is that competition between vendors in almost all areas is still fierce. This is especially so in the area of storage platforms where a relatively small number of vendors dominate, at least in a marketing sense, the market. Last week witnessed IBM making bold claims for its latest storage platforms, the IBM TotalStorage DS6000 and DS8000, built using IBM's highly regarded Power processors.

Once known for its expensive, dedicated in-car satellite navigation systems, Navman has found itself moving increasingly expanding downmarket over the last year or so. Look to the likes of Germany's Medion for the reason: its combination of low-cost PocketPC devices and wired GPS receivers has taken the European PDA market by storm and brought in-car navigation to a whole new group of consumers.

This time next week, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft will be making its closest approach to Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The craft will come within 1,200km of Titan's surface, and space scientists are eagerly awaiting the data it will send back.

SAP software brought in €491m for the third quarter of 2004 ended 30 September, up 13 per cent from the same period in 2003. Total revenues were €1.8bn, an 11 per cent year-on-year increase at constant currencies (excluding the impact of shifting currencies). Software revenue in Europe was €249m, up from €201m in the third quarter of 2003. Asia Pacific made sales of €69m, up from €56m last year. The Americas contributed €173m down from €176m in the same period last year.

An alarming 76 per cent of employees are coming back to work drunk after taking a "liquid lunch", according to a new survey carried out by Peninsula employment law constancy. The results show that an increasing number of employees are consuming alcohol during their lunch break - a trend that could harm the reputation and productivity of a business.

Phreakers could seize control of users' mobile handsets, send arbitrary messages or render phones unusable because of a brace of Java-related security vulnerabilities, a security researcher warns. The problems have been demonstrated on a Nokia 6310i handset and might also apply to other phones running flawed implementations of mobile Java (J2ME).

Considering the publicity that has surrounded - and, despite super new security-focused Service Packs, continues to surround - Windows security issues, Microsoft's determination to demonstrate that Linux is less secure than Windows shows a certain chutzpah. The company has however had some support here; Forrester, for example, provides some numbers that can be used to support the contention that Microsoft flaws are less severe, less numerous and fixed faster. And although there's a general readiness among users to believe that Windows is a security disaster area, there's also a reasonable amount of support for the view that Linux would get just as many security issues if it had anything like Windows' user base.

Considering events earlier in the week, this possibly is not an absolutely ideal time for us to find some blockhead commending the efficacy of DDoS attacks as a mechanism for eradicating anything. We have however been able to draw on our legendary supply of patience, fairness, balance and integrity prior to arriving at a considered judgment.

The music labels, accustomed to bullying teenagers, appear to have pissed off the wrong man. New York attorney general Eliot "The Blitzer" Spitzer has served up subpoenas to the major labels, as he digs for information on their relationships with promoters who are thought to pay radio stations to play certain songs, according to a report in The New York Times.